


Gossip Guy

by dugindeep (hotsauce)



Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Hatesex, M/M, Newspapers, Writer!Jensen, swimmer!Jared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:54:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5583139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotsauce/pseuds/dugindeep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>American Journalist Walter Winchell said “Today’s gossip is tomorrow’s headline”, and nothing could be truer for Jensen Ackles. As he seeks the job as Editor-in-Chief of his high school paper, Jensen has to spend time covering the swim team, where star Jared Padalecki (and Jensen’s current enemy) serves as captain. Over time, they get to know one another and see past the hatred, but a new item in <i>The Austonian</i> drudges up Jensen’s past for spreading good gossip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gossip Guy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [keep_waking_up](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keep_waking_up/gifts).



> **Notes:** Marked underage as both boys are mid-teens (16-17). 
> 
> Written as part of [205 spn_j2_xmas](http://spn-j2-xmas.livejournal.com/) for [keep_waking_up](http://keep-waking-up.livejournal.com/), in line with her prompts for hatesex and angsty artsy HS AU. I kind of mashed the two together and this came out. A hundred sorries (like Jared) for being so late! The story got away from me and I wanted to see it through. Happy holidays!

On paper, Jensen hates Jared Padalecki. The _Austonian_ says so, in the thinnest of margins so it’s not outright obvious to the rest of Austin High. But it’s there all the same. Jensen makes sure of it every time he looks over the newest edition.

“Really?” Danneel asks, looking up from the newest draft that’s set for print by 4 PM today.

“What?” Jensen asks innocently, even when he knows what she’s referencing. He glances at the page she’s holding up and makes a faux-impressed face. “Yeah, the swimming team is gearing up to face Lewis. Tom said Coach thinks they’ve got a real shot.”

It’s exactly what Jensen wrote yesterday and the same theme Coach Stuart relayed when Tom interviewed him on Monday. So Jensen shrugs with a lopsided smile, holding it firm when Danneel shoots him a dead-eyed stare.

Danneel stands up from her desk and holds the paper right in front of Jensen’s face. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” She runs her finger down to left side of second paragraph of the story.

It’s not hard for Jensen to spot what she’s going after. He put it there after all. While editing Tom’s story, he made sure that the left side of that paragraph was written so perfectly that the first letter of each line vertically spells _Padalecki sucks_.

She sighs and Jensen shrugs with a bit of a smile. “You’re so mature.”

“I just followed what Tom gave me.”

Another sigh, Danneel drops the copy to her desk and leans back in her chair. Rocking slightly. In judgement. “You’re terrible at sports.”

“Uh, excuse me, I’m an All-State athlete.”

“In _track_. Which you probably excel at because you spent half your childhood running away from your sister.”

“It was my _brother_ ,” Jensen huffs, “thank you very much.”

“Either way, you’re terrible at writing them.”

“I’m wonderful at writing everything. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be the assistant editor.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were baiting him.”

Jensen classically rolls his eyes and marches over to the far counter where the rest of the newest edition is spread out, pages filled to the brim with text and photos. “Who, Coach? Totally not my type. Besides, I have better things to do.”

“Oh really?” she deadpans. “Like what? Please do share.”

With pointed fingers and careful touches, Jensen rights the whole midsection so the pages are aligned at the top and perfectly set just a hair beside each other. “Mr. Omundson is selecting the new editor-in-chief by the end of the month.”

That gets her attention, and she shoots up from her seat and is next to Jensen in a flash. “What about Amell?”

“Teacher’s pet? Well, I heard he tried a wee bit too hard to get close to Ms. Huffman so she turned his ass into the Dean’s Office.” 

Danneel leans in even closer, “And where’d you hear that?”

“I have my ways.”

“Who?”

“A journalist never reveals his source.”

She narrows her eyes and for a brief second, Jensen anticipates a full swath of feminist hatred.

“Or _her_ source.”

 

+

 

Jared glides through water. The surface breaking around his lean lines. His strong arms drive forward and down, propelling him towards the wall. He keeps count and flips on time, tucking his growing body in and pushing off the wall to start another lap.

There’s little sound around him because the water floods his ears and the _swoosh-swoosh_ of his strokes runs like a metronome as he counts to the next wall.

Coach’s shrill whistle stops him just before he flips at the wall. Jared reaches out for the top of sky blue tile to pull himself up and sit at the edge of the pool.

“Padalecki!” Coach Stuart shouts. “You’re far too early.”

Jared tugs his cap off and shakes out damp hair. “Better than far too late, sir.”

“You’ll tire yourself out.”

“I’m trying to build myself up.” He smirks with what he knows is his best childish enthusiasm and charm. “Stamina and all that.”

Coach waves him off and returns to the office just beyond the big pane of glass on the other side of the room. He looks out onto the pool, and Jared offers a quick wave and holds that playful smirk in place.

“Stamina, my ass.”

“Shut up, Chad,” Jared replies without moving. He knows his supposed best friend (forever) is off to the right, casually hanging out on the bleachers and not doing anything useful.

“You’re just hiding in here because you’re afraid to see what Ass-les wrote about you this week.” Chad punctuates his point by flipping a page over in the latest edition of the _Austonian_ and rattling the paper in his hands.

“And you’re hiding in here because you’re afraid Sophia will kick your ass if she sees your ugly face.”

Chad smacks the paper down beside him on the bench. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m the _equipment manager_.”  
“And how many times do we have to tell you? There is no equipment in swimming.” Jared laughs shortly and shrugs. “What’re you gonna do? Hold our Speedos?”

Quite seriously, as if with great honor, Chad holds his head up. “I would if you asked me to.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“At least I’m not on a douche.”

Jared sighs and briefly shuts his eyes, remembering the typos that littered Jensen Ackles’ last story on the swimming team. ‘Accidentally,’ Ackles had insisted, all while smiling that dumb smooth smile of his with his dumb big eyes wide and faking any kind of dumb emotion. “That’s not what it said!” he argues, because he has yet to come up with anything better when discussing that article.

“You’re right. It didn’t say anything. You had to read it.”

“Shut up, Chad.”

“And it read like you use your mama’s douche to clean out your—”

“SHUT UP, CHAD!”

“Ladies!” Coach yells at them from the other side of the glass, all muffled and squeaky. “The only fighting in my pool is _in_ the pool.”

“Okay, fine,” Chad agrees. He rises and marches along the bleachers to the stairwell that brings him down to pool level, tearing off his hoodie, shirt, and belt along the way.

Jared coolly stands and waits for Chad’s arrival, at which point he easily shifts to his right then shoves Chad right into the water.

At that time, the rest of the team files into the pool area with laughter slowly growing among them as they take in the scene of Chad flailing around in the water like a drowning squirrel.

“Alright, ladies, enough!” Coach shouts as he joins them at the side of the pool Chad attempts to paddle towards. Strength and gravitas fill Coach’s voice when he chides, “Murray, I’d say you didn’t deserve this, but you absolutely did.”

“Yes, sir,” Chad answers on automatic, even while still fighting the water.

“Help him out, fellas, then let’s get going. You all have some skin to flip!”

Jared and a few others help Chad out of the pool, all chuckling at the sad state of the guy. He starfishes out on the blue and white tile, jeans darkly drenched and sticking to every angle of his hips and legs. Jared perhaps sees a bit more of his friend than he’d like and leaves Chad right where he is to start practice and forget about this whole charade and that stupid newspaper and the even stupider guy who writes for it.

 

+

 

Jensen proudly steps up onto the Arts Editor’s chair and then atop the guy’s desk, worn-out black boots scuffing old drafts and planting him in place so he can strike his pose. Feet shoulder-width apart and his arms firmly crossed over his chest, Jensen smiles down at the _Austonian_ ’s staff. “It is finally time,” he starts with great cadence, “to stand up for what is ours, to reach out with our strong hands and grip tight what is ours.”

“Yeah!” a few people call out. Mostly just the folks who hang out after school and help them distribute each edition. And that dumb graphic artist kid whose name Jensen can’t be bothered to learn.

Jensen punches his hand through the air. “And we need to put our arms around this great paper of ours and care for it like we would our children!”

“We don’t have any children,” Felicia points out.

“Yeah, we’re in high school?” Danneel adds on.

He grimaces at them, but attempts to complete his speech with a rousing ending. “And will you fight for our paper? Fight, and we may all die. Run, and the paper will live, at least for a little while. And years from now, when we’re off at college—” he catches that other moron Adam in the far corner, with his gleeful smile that betrays how terrible he is at proofing their stories, “or at the 7-11, would you be willing to trade all the days that have passed for the one chance to look back and tell everyone that they may take our paper, but they’ll never take our writing?!”

“Who’s taking the paper?” Tom asks from his desk just off to the side. He swings his chair back and forth in tiny movements, crossing his arms, and staring up at Jensen.

It’s unnerving, quite frankly, so Jensen looks out to the crowd gathered across the newspaper’s office and waits for someone else to speak up. Unfortunately, that someone is Felicia, with a hundred pounds of anxiety.

“Is someone taking the paper? Are they closing us down? What will we do?”

“No one’s closing down the paper,” he insists quickly.

“But you just said—”

“Yeah, I know, but—”

“Why would you say someone’s taking the paper?” Tom asks, calm as ever.

Jensen turns to answer him, but can’t get a full sentence out before everyone is now shouting out their worries over the state of the paper. “No one’s taking the paper!” Jensen yells. “It was just allegory.”

“Al and who?” Adam asks, squinted eyes and all.

“Alle—nevermind.” Jensen waves the stupid freshman off and brings his attention back to the crowd. “I was just trying to rouse everyone up! Get spirits going and build camaraderie!”

“Come-what now?” Tom asks, then smirks when Jensen tries to correct him.

“You’re an asshole,” he tells Tom, then faces the staff again. “Look, it just seems like some of the stories lately have been a little … well, um, slow. And maybe the writing is a little … how do I put this?”

“Stale?” Danneel offers. “Boring? Terrible?”

Jensen’s a bit nervous to agree with her, at least out loud. His whole point here was to strike a new fire within the writers and artists to energize the _Austonian_ , to revive the content and layout, and make a point to Mr. Omundson that Jensen is the great leader this paper needs. The brand new Editor-in-Chief.

“I wouldn’t say all those things,” Jensen tries.

But to no benefit because Felicia is now ultra-focused on the topic. “You think the paper is boring?” she asks with sunken eyes and a crooked yet adorable frown. “Is no one reading it anymore? Are they firing staff?”

That gets the crowd going and Jensen has to whistle through his fingers to get them all to calm down. “No one is getting fired! I mean, no one is even getting paid, so it’s kind of hard to get fired.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Danneel mumbles.

“Not helping,” he sighs at her while the angry staff grow even angrier. And worried, in the case of Felicia and Genevieve, who are now anxiously clutching at one another while contemplating the fates of their journalism future.

In the middle of it all, Jensen spots Jared Padalecki at the open doorway, assessing the scene. It takes just a second to groan and roll his eyes in annoyance at the guy’s presence, then a few more to jump off the desk and exit the room, tugging Jared far away from the _Austonian_ ’s office.

“What are you doing here?” Jensen complains.

Jared makes a face at Jensen then at the still-open door where plenty of noise floats out.

Jensen suddenly worries what kind of mess Mr. Omundson would find if he journeys over. But it’s well past five, meaning their advisor is likely on his third hot toddy and can‘t be bothered from the grand leather chaise in the literature and arts office further down the hall.

“What are you doing in there?” Jared asks.

“I was energizing the forces.”

“Looks like it worked.”

Sighing, Jensen slumps a bit. “I was hoping for a completely different direction.” Then he stands up straight and backhands Jared’s shoulder. “What’re you bothering me for anyway?”

Jared takes his turn to smack Jensen, using the latest edition to cover Jensen’s face. “The Gossip Tab.”

“I don’t write gossip.”

“It says an Olympic-bound swimmer was caught stealing porn and cigarettes from Williams’ Liquors.”

Swatting the paper down, Jensen chuckles a little, yet a lot guilty. “That could be anyone, really.” When Jared glares at him, Jensen’s attitude flips into cynicism. “Oh, and like you’re the only swimmer in the whole school? Must think a lot about yourself if you’re calling yourself Olympic bound.”

“Why would you write this?”

Jensen is overcome by a tiny twinge of remorse at the sight of Jared’s poor face looking annoyed and sad all at once. Still, he must keep up all appearances of dislike, and so he lies. “I didn’t.”

“Who else would?”

“Danneel’s name is on the column.”

“Does she really write it?”

Jensen quickly offers, “Or any number of staff back in that office?”

“Stealing porn and cigarettes” Jared repeats. “What’m I supposed to tell my coach, or my teammates. Hell, my mother?”

“Wouldn’t they be impressed?”

“Not likely!” Jared sags back against the wall, clutching at the thick strap of his equipment bag, and Jensen belatedly realizes that the guy is decked out in his full swim team gear. Bright blue soft fabric with the zipper pulled down partway and revealing the line of his v-neck shirt, a light shine down his neck from his post-practice shower …

Jensen wants to smack himself for losing his train of thought, especially right now, while dealing with _Padalecki_ of all people. 

“And you said they were Virginia Slims,” Jared whines, “Just freaking embarrassing, man.”

“What? Like you wanna be a Marlboro Man instead?” 

“That’d be a lil cooler, right?” Seconds later, Jared seems lost in a daydream as he mumbles about cowboys and horses, boots and saddles.

Jensen tries to avoid following Jared down that train of thought. The star swimmer has certainly grown up and filled out over summer, bringing him more fame and success as the season wears on because his speed has increased tenfold and his spins are tighter and stronger than ever …

Or so Coach told Tom, who told Jensen, who had to look through hundreds of snapshots that Mike got when they first visited the team in the preseason.

And so maybe at that point, when Jensen saw Jared in all of his growing glory and bright crooked smile, Jensen felt the familiar jolt of his long-hidden crush. Last year, Jensen had paid attention to the swim team and insisted Jared was the real deal, but when the then-sophomore failed to finish anywhere respectable at Regionals, many at the paper shot back at Jensen for being so loud about Jared’s future.

It was then that Jensen decided to turn his loudness around and focus on how terrible the newly fantastic swimmer was. Or could be, since it appeared Jared was a pretty regular person without a problem in the world; except for Jensen.

Jensen doesn’t exactly hate Jared. Not really. Or at all. He just hates how he feels about him and it comes out in Jensen’s typical sardonic humor that’s more about ragging on people than showing them real emotion.

“So is that what you want?” Jensen asks. “For me to rewrite it with a cooler cigarette?”

“So you did write it.”

“Uh, no,” he lies again. “That’s Dee’s column.”

Jared frowns and shakes his head. “I knew you did it. But I never expected you to blame Danneel.”

The disappointment in Jared’s tone hits Jensen in the gut. He stumbles a step back, as if physically hit and tries to defend with a lame, “No, not like that, I didn’t mean—”

“But I guess you’re not really known for being a nice guy, anyway.”

Another few steps back and now there’s plenty of room for Jared to slip out of the area and the conversation.  
Jensen dumbly stands there and watches Jared grow smaller as he walks farther and farther. He spins back to the office and smacks right into Danneel, who’s now looking down the hallway to where Jared disappeared.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re pouting,” she points out with a no-bull-shit kind of tone. “What happened?”

“Nothing. It’s just …”

“Just what?”

Jensen looks over his shoulder with guilt. Somehow, having Jared disappointed in him and saying he’s _not a nice guy_ hurts more than any kind of bickering and fighting he had anticipated to come from the swimmer.

Before he can answer, Danneel nudges him while staring right into his eyes with ferocious energy. “What did he say? Did he threaten you? Do I have to beat him up?”

“Down, girl,” Jensen insists, putting her at arm’s length. He smiles a little; at least Dee’s got his back. “Quite the opposite. Whined and complained about your latest gossip column.”

“You mean _your_ column.”

“Yeah, but, it’s your name on it,” he quickly argues.

Now Danneel crosses her arms at her chest and cocks her hips to the side. “Because you’re too big a baby to admit you’re a giant gossip whore.”

Jensen shushes her with a hand over her mouth. “You’re gonna blow my cover.”

She bites into the meat of his palm, making him yelp and jump away. “It’s the worst kept secret in the whole school.”

“Nuh uh.”

“Are you kidding me right now? The only worse secret ever is Jared being gay.”

Now Jensen furrows his brow then scoffs at her. “No way is _that_ body gay.”

“Gayer than you, darling.”

“Impossible.”

Danneel smirks proudly. “I know, who’d have thought a swimmer could be gayer than a gossip rag.”

He narrows his eyes and tilts his head in anger. “You watch it missy, or I’ll put you in the proofreading queue.”

“Oh, no,” she deadpans as she heads back to the office. “You’re threatening my non-paying job.”

“My friendship is your payment!” Jensen yells after her, but it doesn’t mean much. Not to her, or the rest of the paper, and definitely does little to raise his spirits after the run-in with Jared.

 

+

 

In fourth period gym, Jared finds himself facing off with Jensen on the other side of a volleyball net.

In the large field house, teams from multiple classes make their rounds in short scrimmages then move onto the next court. Unfortunately, when Jared shuffles to the front of the court and finds Jensen staring back at him, he’s startled and annoyed to be faced with this moron.

Jared’s team takes accepts the first serve, volleying it once then twice over to Jared for a swing, but the ball just smacks him in the back of the head as he’s still distracted by Jensen. He curses and holds the side of his head as classmates laugh while only one or two girls on his team check on him. He insists he’s good and tells them all to stop fussing, but he’s anything but okay.

He’s already aggravated by Jensen Ackles’ existence and position in the _Austonian_ , where Jared is continually harassed in print. And now he can blame the guy for being smacked in the ear by a dumb volleyball.

Okay, maybe he can’t really do that, but he will.

“Jackass,” he mutters while glaring at Jensen.

“Are you okay?” Jensen asks, but it’s said so flat and low that it’s not like he means it.

“Like you care.”

Jensen rolls his eyes then turns his attention to the game, which Jared decides to do as well because now he just wants to beat Jensen’s team.

It’s all in the name of friendly competition and all that. Not childish resentment.

Over the course of the next few volleys, Jared notices that Jensen’s actually quite good. His thin yet curved legs are quick to move him to the exact spot to save a wayward ball, his fair-skinned arms align perfectly for each bump, and his entire body leaps up high as he swings for an effective and swift spike right down the middle of Jared’s side so no one can recover it.

The volley runs perfectly once more and Jared is slow in his moves as he watches the ball hop around Jensen’s side of the net. His attention is steady on Jensen lifting up to spike another perfect bump. So steady, in fact, that he loses track of the ball or Jensen’s intended aim and gets whacked right in the nose.

Next Jared knows, he’s on the ground and his face is wet. Students circle him without touching and their looks of horror and a few not-so-subtle points towards his head tells him he’s bleeding.

A whistle blows sharply before the crowd parts to let Coach Beaver assess the scene. “Jesus Christ, Padalecki, what’d you do?”

“Nuttin,” Jared mumbles, now pinching his nose to hold off the bleeding, “Jensen did it.”

“Ackles!” Coach bellows with the crowd parting again to show Jensen meekly watching from outside the ring of bystanders. “You nailed this kid?”

“No. I mean, not personally,” Jensen pathetically argues. “I nailed him with the ball.”

Coach chuckles, “Nice aim, kid,” then insists Jensen’s immediate punishment is to escort Jared to the school nurse. “And you can help him off the floor while you’re at it.”

Jensen does as he’s told, and Jared does his best to remain calm in the face of his enemy. Though he does angrily wrench his arm away from Jensen when being guided out of the field house, and keeps a good distance between them in the hall.

Once at the medical office, Nurse Smith smiles at them with a hint of judgement hiding beneath the surface. “And what happened here?”

“Jensen smacked me in the face,” Jared says automatically.

“It was an accident,” Jensen instantly defends. “I told you that like ten times on the way here.”

Jared scowls at him. “Make it twenty and we’re even.”

“Fine. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sor—”

“Alright, boys!” Nurse Smith coddles Jared as she motions him further into her office. “We’ll get you all patched up while Mr. Ackles heads to the Dean, okay?”

Over his shoulder, Jared sticks his tongue out at Jensen, who gives him the finger in return.

 

+

 

In a cruel twist of fate, Tom gets mono. He misses school for two straight weeks, including his beat covering the swim team.

Jensen would actually prefer to poke his eyes out and put Adam on the schedule than cover it himself. No matter how many errors that numbskull would make, Jensen would rather spend the time correcting every typo than face Jared.

Jared, who couldn’t take an accident for what it was and instead ratted Jensen out to Nurse Smith, who sent Jensen to Dean Ferris, who doled out a Saturday detention to Jensen, who couldn’t keep his mouth shut when arguing about his perfect behavioral record, which was then blemished with Dean Ferris issuing an in-school suspension and a week of detention for talking back.

To add insult to injury, Mr. Omundson makes it obvious that Jensen should take over Tom’s responsibilities in addition to his regular entertainment section. 

There’s no time left in Jensen’s schedule at this point.

With great gravitas, their advisor lifts his arm in the air and recites with a proper English accent, “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”

Jensen turns in place to face Danneel settled at her chair with her feet up on the desk and eyes also widened in confusion.

“Arnold Glasow said it. He was a great humorist, ahead of his time,” Mr. Omundson adds. “He also said, ‘Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.’”

“You’re not actually …” Jensen actually imagines being lit aflame. “Are you asking me to set myself on fire?”

“Jensen, my dear boy,” Mr. Omundson says as he wraps an arm around Jensen’s shoulders and shucks him around. “Don’t find fault, find a remedy.”

Jensen looks to Danneel again, and they both remain clueless to their advisor’s point. More confused than ever by the eccentric man.

“Henry Ford.”

He stares at Mr. Omundson then backs away when the man sighs and drops his arm.

“Egads, do you children know nothing about the fine spirits of our world?”

“No, I know who Henry Ford is …” Jensen flips his hands over as he fights for the right way to explain that, “I just don’t … well … understand your point.”

“My point is that sometimes a leader must act against his senses and do the unthinkable.” Mr. Omundson pulls him around to face with a heavy grip on Jensen’s shoulders. “Jensen, you must cover the swim team.”

“No, c’mon, you don’t understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That I … he … we don’t … I can’t …”

“Jensen?” Mr. Omundson asks slowly. “The great Walt Disney once said ‘The only way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.’”

Jensen sighs as he anticipates the next move.

Mr. Omundson shoves him towards the door as he ruefully says, “Great Walt also said ‘There’s nothing funnier than the human animal.’”

“It’s not funny,” he argues. “And I’m not an animal.”

“Ahh, but you _are_ human.”

 

+

 

Jared races through his last lap, reaching for the wall with well-timed precision before breaking the water to look up to the friendly competition around him. The entire team has finished before him and is obviously a bit bored waiting for him.

Aldis, Tamoh, and Matt sit up on the edge of the pool with their goggles slung down around their necks. Each stare at him with matching expressions of bewilderment, and maybe skepticism, for him finishing dead last. Before the silence carries on too long, Coach Stuart blows his whistle and shakes his head.

“Alright ladies, hit the showers.” The whole crew gathers any left-behind items then heads for the locker room. Just before Jared can escape the shame of what happened, Coach stops him, “Padalecki. One minute.”

Jared spins in place and decides to face it like a man, albeit it one with a busted nose and two round bruises dulling his cheeks. “Yes, sir?”

Coach stands tall and rests his hands on his hips. “First to last is a mighty quick fall. Like a stone in water, one might say.”

He nods in return, lost on how to excuse himself from such a poor performance.

“Care to explain?”

Jared shifts his sights just over Coach’s shoulder. “Not really.”

“Try again.”

“Not really, sir?”

Coach sighs then drops his head to stare more directly at Jared. “You get into a fight or something?”

“Something like that.”

“With who?”

“Or what,” Chad offers from a bench far in the corner.

“He has the worst timing,” Jared mutters.

“Excuse me, son. Who are you?” Coach yells across the pool.

“Murray, Chad Murray. And Michael. I’m your equipment manager.”

Coach looks at Jared. “We have an equipment manager?”

“Not really,” he replies, yet is thankful the subject has changed.

Not for long, however, because Chad pipes up, “Jared got in a fight with a volleyball.”

“A volleyball?” Coach repeats.

“Yep! A volleyball. Fourth period gym. Jensen Ackles has a mean spike.”

“Shut up, Chad!” Jared yells.

Coach tuts as he nods. “So a volleyball wrecked your face and your ego. Is that how it is, Padalecki?”

“No, sir. It just … it hurts. To breathe.”  
“Hmm, well you ice it down a bit tonight and maybe you’ll be okay for tomorrow’s match.” He pats Jared’s cheek, which hurts enough that Jared has to hiss through the pain. “Take care of yourself, son. Get yourself a hockey mask or something.”

“For volleyball?” Chad asks. “That’s funny, coach.”

“Murray, was it?”

“Yes, sir,” Chad answers eagerly, smiling and hustling over to them.

“Get the hell out of my pool,” Coach demands, and Chad quickly turns on his toe to escape the area. “He a friend of yours?”

Jared tries to avoid Coach’s critical look. “Not really.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

With a nod, Jared salutes Coach then heads to the locker room. After a shower and fresh clothes, he thinks the worst of today is over. But then the rest of the team sends him odd glances as they all get their things out of their lockers and talk about going to see a movie.

“Should we ask him?” he hears Matt ask.

“Dude, we’re going to 3D,” Aldis points out. “The glasses’ll hurt his face.”

“Your face hurts my face,” Jared mumbles, but otherwise doesn’t pay attention to them. He waits until he’s left alone to pack his bag and pull on his swim team sweat suit.

He’s exiting the locker room and pulling at the zipper of his sweat jacket when he runs right into Jensen and huffs. “Great, my day just got _even_ better.”

“Oh, wow.” Jensen can’t take his eyes off Jared’s face; more specifically, he’s seems quite distracted by the mess of bruising and harsh red splotches under Jared’s nose. “You look terrible.”

“Not helping,” he grumbles then tries to step around Jensen, walking faster when the writer—or hack, really—tries to keep up.

“No, I mean, it. It looks bad. Like, all the bruising and your face and—”

Jared stops short and pulls a fist. “I will pay you back right now.”

“No, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” Jensen rushes with his hands up in defense. “You look fine. Totally fine. Very fine. But not like super fine. Not like that kind of fine.”

His fist remains in the air, but Jared only blinks in return to the crazed ramblings.

“I’ll just shut up now,” he whispers while dropping his head.

Jared laughs a little, trying to not be too amused by Jensen. To witness Jensen unhinged and awkward is kind of like revenge and Jared is pleased that Jensen is acting like this. And a bit endearing, maybe. If Jared thought of Jensen Ackles as anything other than a soulless douche bucket.

“So what do you want?” Jared asks, getting to the point that Jensen was waiting for him just outside the locker room. “Just coming to say sorry again?”  
“No, nothing like that.” When Jared glares, Jensen bites the corner of his mouth. “I mean, yes of course. Have I told you I’m sorry yet?”

“About fifteen times.”

“Well how’s about sixteen?”

Jared sighs and marches forward because he’s pretty damn hungry after the five extra relays Coach gave them in anticipation of tomorrow’s meet. He’d like to be home and eating mama’s homemade biscuits rather than wasting time with Jensen Ackles. “What do you really want?”

“So, funny thing. You know Tom Welling?”

“Yeah, I do. What’s so funny about that?”

“No, that’s not the funny part. The funny part is that he got mono.”

“That’s not funny. That’s kind of terrible.”

“Well, yeah,” Jensen tries, yet fails to sound bad for the kid. “But kind of funny, too. I mean, Genevieve was just out with mono, and now he is, too, yet he won’t tell Katie.”

Jared slows down and glances at Jensen because that’s totally not what he heard around the locker room. “I thought he was cheating on Genevieve?”

“Oh, no. Definitely cheating on Katie. And on Felicia, come to think of it.”

“Felicia? From your paper?”

Jensen’s eyes wide and his voice rises with excitement to share his knowledge. “Yeah, they’ve been on the quiet for ages. But don’t tell anyone. It’s totally on the down low.”

“It can’t be on the down low if you’re openly telling me,” Jared points out with a raised eyebrow. “And you’re so obviously outing yourself as writing the Gossip Tab, meaning you definitely were the one who said I stole Virginia Slims and porn from Williams.”

Jensen goes silent again and bites the other corner of his mouth, which should not spin Jared’s stomach or make his palms all clammy. After all, they totally hate each other. “Uh, okay, so maybe that was me. But I mean, sometimes, we don’t have a lot of good stuff to share, so I just kind of make it up.”

Rolling his eyes, Jared gets back to leaving school. “Thanks for that,” he complains. “And then you went ahead and smashed my face in with a killer spike. You’re really making my life easy.”

“I’m really sorry,” Jensen insists. Then cracks a small smile. “That’s seventeen.”

Jared sucks at the inside of cheek so he doesn’t smile at how that was kind of adorable. “Is that why you followed me here? To count how many times you can say you’re sorry?”

“No, see, the funny thing about Tom is that he’s also our Sports Editor and now that he’s out with mono, I have to cover his teams. Which means your team.”

“I like Tom,” Jared says plainly as he fights through his real emotions to the news. Including the want to whine and throw his arms in the air because right now? Adding Jensen Ackles to his daily routine? His life really fucking sucks. “I don’t like you. I don’t want to deal with you.”

“I know. I get it. I really do. I don’t want to deal with you, either.”

“Wow. That’s not any better.”

“I’m sorry.” After a beat, Jensen adds, “Eighteen.”

Jared can’t manage to hide his smile this time, which elicits one from Jensen as well. “Alright, fine. But not until tomorrow, before our meet. I’m already running late for dinner after Coach reamed me out for this,” and Jared waves his finger near his face and the mess that Jensen put there with one perfectly-aimed spike.

“I’m sorry. _Really_ sorry.” Then Jensen smirks. “Nineteen and Twenty.”

“Get out of my face,” Jared insists as he playfully shoves Jensen away.

 

+

 

Following his after-school suspension, Jensen races to the _Austonian_ office to check in with the staff and finds it mostly empty.

“Where is everyone?” he shouts to the bare room, and apparently Genevieve, who pops her head up from behind Felicia’s desk. 

Followed by Felicia, all pink-cheeked and wide eyed. “Oh, hey, Jensen, didn’t know anyone else was here. When’d you get back?”

Jensen looks between Felicia and Genevieve, repeatedly, while failing to come up with anything to say other than, “Uh, what?”

“Uh, what, what?” Felicia asks as both girls stand and fuss with their disheveled clothes. 

“Wow, I had _no_ idea. I thought that … well, you and Tom were, well, you know … and then this … and I wouldn’t have thought …”

Genevieve’s eyes narrow as she assesses Jensen. “You are really terrible at the English language, huh?”

“I just have to write it, not speak it.” Jensen huffs then waves off the whole notion. “Not the point. _You_ are the point. You’re supposed to be with Tom!”

“Uh, I’m totally not,” Felicia insists.

He turns to Genevieve, who continues to stare in judgement. “And I thought Tom was cheating with you.” 

“Uh, no, you’re way off,” Genevieve answers with a smug smile.

“But my sources …”

“Are totally wrong, because it’s been me and Felicia this whole time.”

Jensen looks off in the distance and mumbles, “I feel so disconnected from the world.” He’s further reminded of how wrong he’s been on that love triangle when Felicia clutches at Genevieve’s hand and wraps her other hand around Genevieve’s wrist. Felicia appears terrified and yet strongly holds onto her … girlfriend’s … hand as the petite Genevieve stands firmly in place with her head held high.

He smiles at the adorable portrait they make then curses at the beeping of his phone. It’s a reminder to visit tonight’s swim meet so all he can do is wave off the girls with a quick reminder to not make out in a school-sponsored office.

“Janitor’s closet!” Jensen hears Genevieve insist as he leaves. He races through the hall and down a flight of stairs until he reaches the locker rooms then rushes inside and is halted by Jared standing alone with only his speedo covering anything up. “Oh wow,” he murmurs without thinking before slapping a hand over his mouth.

“What?” Jared harps and slams his locker door shut. “What now?”

“I, uh, well, I’m sorry?” he finally spits out. His brain can’t comprehend much at all beyond the blessedly tan skin stretched over growing muscles that are on display right now. Jensen adjusts his jeans, clears his throat, and tries to look away. But he can’t; he sneaks another few glances as Jared walks to him.

“Yeah, like sorry’s gonna cut it when Coach decides to bench me?”

“Benched you?”

“Yeah, because I can barely breathe through this dumb broken nose.”

Jensen feels his voice squeak when he asks, “It’s broken?” then tries to recover by clearing his throat again and saying, “I didn’t know it was broken.”

“Okay, it’s not really broken.” Jared backs down, yet still seems aggravated. “But it feels like it. And breathing underwater is next to impossible, all because you had to hit me with a volleyball.”

“It was an accident, I swear.” Jensen wholeheartedly believes it and wishes Jared would believe it, too. But he’s fairly positive it’s not convincing when he avoids Jared’s face, or neck, or ripped torso, or finely sculpted thighs. 

“What’s your problem with me, anyway, huh?” Jared’s voice growls a bit, adding onto the intimidation of him closing in on Jensen as they cross the locker room. “I’ve done nothing wrong, stayed out of your way, never said a bad word about you, and all you can do is tear me down.”

Jensen brings his hands up in apology, offering his best to excuse away his behavior, anything from just a misunderstanding to a friendly rivalry and finally onto the need for good journalism.

“But you’re _lying_ ,” Jared complains. “That’s not good journalism. You’re just a hack. And a liar. And a bully.”

“Now, hang on there …” Jensen doesn’t get any farther because now Jared crowds him into the corner and Jensen’s hands—meant to plead and keep the air light—are now pressed against Jared. His fingers bend perfectly over the crest of Jared’s chest and heat sinks through his skin. “I, uh, hadn’t, well, it didn’t—”

Jared huffs in Jensen’s face. “What’s wrong now? Cat got your tongue?”

At the word _tongue_ , Jensen licks his and carefully looks up to Jared’s face, where he can see Jared does the same. At the sight of Jared’s plump, perfectly pink and moist lips, Jensen bites into the middle of his tongue and frantically steals a glance to Jared’s eyes. Jensen would later note that they looked the way Jensen’s stomach felt … dark and deep and spiraling out of control … because a split second later, their lips are crushed together and Jared’s hands grab tight to Jensen’s face, angling him this way and that, diving deep into Jensen’s mouth in a greedy kiss.

It continues on for far longer than Jensen ever imagined in any of his dreams—wet or day. And even when they break constantly for Jared to catch his breath with big gulps of air through his bruised lips, they get right back to it. 

Jensen reaches around Jared and drags his palms down the sculptured back, gripping and scratching in the same manner Jared does to get Jensen’s shirt off. Seconds later, Jensen’s pants drop and they’re both near naked with only a small swatch of fabric over the goods. Jared tugs him forward with his hands resting on Jensen’s ass, pulling their hardening dicks together and rubbing against him. 

“Ohmigod,” Jensen whines pathetically because his teenage libido is quickly jumping ahead of him and he thinks he wants to come _right now_ just from the heat and pressure. And possibly also the sight of _Jared Padalecki_ , the star of many a dark dream, standing near naked and all flushed from kissing Jensen. 

There’s harsh breathing in Jensen’s ear before Jared nips at the ear lobe and Jensen’s eyes roll back. Jensen thunks his head against the metal locker and lets Jared take over, burning out months of animosity as they grind against one another and Jared licks and bites along Jensen’s throat. He just runs his arms over Jared’s shoulders and hangs on for the incredibly short ride because they’re then coming with their panting echoing off the walls.

With loud huffs, Jared fights to catch his breath. Still, he’s the first to speak. “That was so—”

“Embarrassing,” Jensen finishes as he stares at his blue and pink checkered briefs, all damp in the stickiest of ways. If only he had known this was ever a possibility, he might’ve worn something less embarrassing, something not from the very bottom of the laundry basket.

“I was going to say awesome,” Jared mumbles while backing away, only Jensen holds on tight and yanks Jared back in.

“Yes, totally awesome. Really, really awesome.” He kisses Jared immediately, feeling the same excitement thrum through his body as before, but taking his time with less frantic moves. “Really, totally awesome.”

“You’re kind of terrible at talking.”

Jensen frowns and turns his head away.

Jared tips Jensen’s chin back up with a smug smile. “But really good at kissing.” 

 

+

 

By Saturday’s all-day meet, Jared’s swelling has gone down along with some of the bruising. He can breathe well enough that Coach puts him back in the rotation and he hustles through every race like it’s the last he’ll ever get to swim. In between matches, he relaxes in the stands with his parents or Chad. Whenever his teammates are swimming, he gets back down to deck level and joins the rest to cheer on each race. 

Somewhere in the middle of it all, he spots Jensen a few rows behind his parents. He’s not sure when Jensen showed up, or why, and he’s afraid to comment on it. As if he’ll give away what happened between them in the locker room. 

In a way, he’s relieved when Matt huffs, “I miss Tom. He was always nicer than that turd.”

Jared follows Matt’s sights to Jensen in the stands, but doesn’t match the scowl Matt gives off. Jared smiles a little as he relives the other day after their home match. He adjusts his pants then shoves Matt back towards the rest of the team, laughing the whole thing off. 

Once the whole day wraps up, Jared is tired. He’s so exhausted that it barely registers that Jensen is milling around the visiting locker rooms, waiting for Jared. 

“Hey,” Jensen offers lamely. Then bites his lower lip and it’s kind of adorable, if Jared were looking into that sort of thing. “You did well out there. Three medals all on your own.”

“Yeah, too bad none of them were first.”

“Looks like Dameron had the jump on everyone. Just five tenths between you guys in the final two legs. He’s small but fast.”

“Yeah, that runt gets us every time.”

“At least Miller missed his third flip.”

Jared tips his head with interest, registering that Jensen has his stats and names straight.

“Or you could’ve had some real competition there.” Following a brief silence, Jensen scratches the side of his head. “But uh, yeah, you kicked some butt out there otherwise. Any thoughts for how this foretells your rematch at Regionals?”

Now, Jared smiles, because Jensen’s awkward and yet trying. It’s so different from Tom, who’s cool and quick to the point, even bitches at Jared when there isn’t much to say. “Well, I hope I grow a few more inches between now and then and really kick some ass.”

Jensen chuckles. “Can’t really say ass. But I can use _butt_.”

Jared chuckles, too. He nearly giggles at how plainly Jensen says it. “But either way, the team had a good showing,” he offers, knowing as captain it’s more than just his own performance. “Our relay wrapped up first place and the guys are really nailing the jump.” He watches Jensen scribble fast on a small note pad and makes a thoughtful noise. “You know, Tom never really took notes.”

“That’s because Tom is lazy,” Jensen replies with attitude. Then carefully smiles when he looks up at Jared. “And he probably makes up half the quotes.”

He grins and shrugs. “Always made me sound good. Unlike some people.”

It seems that Jensen struggles to maintain eye contact as he apologizes. “Yeah, I’m working on that.”

“Good.”

“I even edited out a few lines in the latest edition.”

The _after we messed around_ goes unsaid. Still, Jared fights to not smile at the thought that Jensen is maybe a pretty nice guy underneath it all. “Glad to hear it.”

 

 

+

 

“This ain’t half bad,” Danneel says after proofing Jensen’s latest story on the swim team.

He looks up from the entertainment section that’s in need of serious work. She’s waving his pages around and he clears his throat. “Uh, thanks?” 

“I mean, it has like real meat to it. And no mentions of Jared being a douche.”

Doing his best to ignore her, Jensen goes right back to scanning the latest news on Ms. Buckmaster’s intentions to run Little Shop of Horrors to the delight of the drama club, which battles the disappointment of a normally traditional school board that wanted to see Fiddler on the Roof. Again. 

“It’s kind of like you’re praising him or something.”

“I’m not praising him.”

“You’re not bitching about him anymore.”

“Not the same thing.” And it isn’t, because Jensen has tried exceptionally hard to not look like he’s giving any bias to Jared. Though, he supposes that no longer pulling cheap gags in the paper is close enough. “I just have other things to worry about.”

Danneel snorts and throws a pencil at him. “Like what? What’s got you so busy lately that you’re only here to file stories and proof other columns?”

“You mean like my job?”

She crosses the room and sits down on the large print out Jensen had been trying to edit. He leans back and glares at her, while she just smiles. “This has been your life since freshman year. But the last week or two, you’ve hardly been here to boss us around and give cheesy inspirational speeches.”

Jensen frowns as he realizes it’s more obvious than he thought. There’s been a lot on his plate, always has been, but he always put the paper first. “I’ve been busy, you know? Picking up Tom’s slack, covering the swim team, and serving out my dumb detention, remember? I’m trying my best, Danneel.”

Danneel frowns, too, but more in mockery. Then she pats his cheek. “My poor li’l newshound. Has no time for himself.”

He shirks away from another pity tap and rolls his eyes. “It’s just for now. Once Tom is back to a hundred percent and Omundson puts me in charge, this office will run like brand new again.”

“Including The Gossip Tab? Because you’ve let that lag, too. You know that’s half the reason anyone bothers with the paper.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, tired of her pestering when he just wants to get this editing done. In the next half hour, he has to drive across town for tonight’s swim meet at Highland Park then has a crap ton of homework on top of writing a round-up on the swim team’s performance. “I’ll get right back to that.”

“In the meantime, want me to run it?”

“It does have your name on it, ya know?”

Danneel scrubs the back of his neck. “Just asking. You’re so tense lately. Covering the swim team is that bad, huh?”

Jensen shrugs because it’s not bad. Just different. Radically different from anything he’d previously thought about Jared. And himself, because he feels like he wants to constantly talk to Jared any time he can, which is a totally new feeling for Jensen regarding anyone. He’s finding it increasingly difficult to deal with these feelings all by himself. But for now, he keeps them bottled up.

Especially when she says, “Adam heard that someone was making out in the janitor’s closet recently.”

He bites his tongue to avoid answering that it was probably Genevieve and Felicia. As much of a gossip hog that he’s always been, it all feels different now that he has his own news to hide.

“Maybe an athlete, they’re not sure. Genevieve’s got fresh hickeys and Tom is still out …”

“Oh really,” Jensen mumbles.

“I was gonna dig a lil more, unless you want to the next time you’re there.”

He knows he should insist on handling it so he can later claim the lead went nowhere. Or he could ignore her altogether and be happy she’s looking at something far away from him. Instead, his flight intuition kicks in. He piles his stuff together and insists he’ll miss the swim meet.

“What about the arts section?” Danneel asks, noisily waving the page around.

Jensen snatches it then slips it into his backpack. “I’ll look at it later.”

“Okay, weirdo,” he hears her say as he’s leaving the office.

 

+

 

“Oh, hey.” Jared tries to balance between not sounding excited or disappointed because Matt and Chad are right behind him and glare at Jensen as they fill the small hallway. 

Jensen immediately shrinks back from the bright smile he’d first shown. “Hey. And hey to you two, too.”

“Did he just call us tutus?” Chad asked.

Matt narrows his eyes at Jensen. “I think he did.”

Jared shoves at each of them. “You guys are morons.”

“He’s the moron,” Chad insists, and Jared normally would agree with him.

Before the past two weeks, at least, when he was rather impressed to find out that Jensen is far less of an asshole and more of a cool conversationalist. After the locker room exhibition, they’ve spent time together at the meets where Jensen asks a hundred questions about the team. During some practices, Jensen watches from the bleachers and after, Jared joins him where they chat comfortably. Jared has found himself pleasantly surprised that he enjoys the soft waves of heat between them as they nudge knees and elbows, discuss some of the finer rules of the sport, and crack jokes about Chad. The last part is by far the easiest.

No matter how Jared feels, though, he can’t say anything to his teammates. They’ve taken plenty of Jensen’s barbs in the paper, so there’s no way they’ll let Jensen walk away unharmed. Unless Jared stands up as team captain, which he thinks may be premature.

“I’m not a moron,” Jensen grumbles, adding, “you moron,” under his breath. 

Matt flinches forward to strike, but Jared gets between them and pushes Matt away. 

“He’s not worth it, guys. He’s just a measly lil school reporter. I got it.” Jared watches his friends slowly walk away, constantly looking back down the hall until they finally disappear around the corner towards the parking lot. When he turns to Jensen, his stomach bottoms out at the way Jensen’s face drops. 

“Just a measly lil reporter, yeah, of course.”

“No, I didn’t mean it,” Jared argues immediately. “I just had to get them to leave us alone.” He tries to pull Jensen closer, but it’s a fight until he lowers his voice to ask, “I mean, you wanted to be alone, right?

Jared smirks when Jensen bites his bottom lip without answering.

So Jared goes for the kill, licking his lip and biting his tongue before taunting. “Like before? It was awesome, if I remember correctly.”

Jensen seems to fight it, but is quickly won over with Jared’s arms wrapping around him and Jared leaving tiny nipping kisses along his jawline. “Yeah, it was kinda awesome.”

“I think …” Jared kisses Jensen soundly on the lips. “Really totally awesome …” And again, with a bit more pressure. “Is what you said.” And finally with his tongue slipping into Jensen’s mouth. He’s reminded instantly of the connection from that day and how his skin had burned with excitement because he had hated Jensen so much, and now he just _wants_ so much.

Jensen tries to break the kiss, mumbling against Jared’s lips. “Mmm, we should go somewhere.”

“Where do suggest?”

“I hear the janitor’s closet is the place kids go these days?”

Jared immediately laughs then falls into giggles at the ridiculous statement, combined with how hopeful and excited Jensen is.

Instead, he has a better idea to get to know Jensen a little better. “What about my house? Mama’s making fried chicken tonight.”

Jensen’s stomach growls and he covers it with his hand, eyes going embarrassingly wide.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

 

+

 

Jared kind of becomes a _thing_. Not really something, but more than nothing. 

Enough of a thing that they wind up hanging out at each other’s houses nearly every night after Jared’s practice, eat dinner with the other’s families, then spend the evenings doing homework together … among other things. 

It stays quiet at school, though Danneel continues to ask Jensen why he’s gone soft on the swim captain. Jensen had choked on his Dr. Pepper when his brain wanted to answer _I’m actually quite hard for him_. 

And quite often, really, because Jensen suddenly fills every second of teenage want with Jared, and it’s going pretty darn well. Even evenings packed with homework are shared. After all, Jared is a math whiz and helps Jensen through his Physics midterm, and Jensen puts his writing to use in helping Jared craft his English paper.

“How’m I suppose to write a paper that’s longer than the dang story? It’s only like 15 pages.” Jared sighs and drops his head down to his text book, which rests on Jensen’s bed.

“How long is your paper?” Jensen asks as he pokes Jared’s side with his foot.

“Presently or as required?”

He chuckles at Jared’s pathetic whining, but sticks with it because he wants to help Jared. Which is a frighteningly new feeling, while also being completely exhilarating. “Both.”

Jared turns to his side, brushing hair off his face then blowing at the strands that fall forward. Jensen smirks and Jared rolls his eyes, because he still thinks Jensen’s smiles are antagonistic rather than because he’s truly happy around him in their stolen moments. Jensen tries to soften his smile to something warm and heartfelt, and Jared’s defenses immediately drop.

“I’m at two pages, but it has to be twenty when we’re done.”

“For tomorrow? Are you serious?”

“Mrs. Rhodes is a drill sergeant, I tell ya.” He sets his hand over Jensen’s foot and lightly massages as he goes on talking. “I mean, the final paper for May will be twenty, but our draft has to be five now, then ten in another month. How can we spend a whole semester on one story?”

Jensen had loved having Mrs. Rhodes last semester for short stories, running through a handful of tales that appear short yet are extensively full of allegory and imagery that he can still recall to this day. “Which one are you writing on?” 

“I still can’t decide. _Fall of the House of Usher_ or _The Yellow Wallpaper_.”

“Man, that’s a tough choice.”

“It’s a dumb choice. They’re both dumb.”

Rolling his eyes, Jensen crawls forward to join Jared and flip through the book of short stories together. “In Fall, you have the classic tale of deception and hiding, while forcing yourself to face your greatest fears of insecurity and rejection. The Yellow Wallpaper is empowering once you get between the words and really understand the prison she’s locked up in. What all comes alive in the walls represents her entire consciousness ...”

Jared looks at Jensen, even as Jensen points at pages and tries to grab his attention while continuing to explain the themes. He ends up resting his elbow on the bed and his cheek against his palm to watch Jensen rattle on about what great elements beg to be written about.

“… and when you get beyond the torment of what she imagines, you understand the prison is just as much her own as the one that’s imposed on her.” Jensen stalls when he realizes that Jared is quietly staring at him. “What?”

With a small smile, Jared rocks forward to jostle Jensen. “You’re kinda smart, huh?” 

Jensen purses his lips in mock annoyance. “Kinda? I basically run the _Austonian_ /”

Jared chuckles. “I wouldn’t be too proud of that.”

“Well, we can’t all be swimmers.”

“That’s probably good. I’ve heard some of them are huge assholes.”

Jensen holds his breath when Jared shifts closer, their noses nearly touching. He crosses his eyes to look at Jared’s and belatedly realizes he’s now holding tight to Jared’s hip, dragging him closer. “Says who?”

“Some douche at the school paper.”

“I’ll have to talk to Danneel,” he murmurs just before kissing Jared. 

“Kinda like The Gossip Tab, when you said she runs it?”

Jensen chuckles as he remembers that argument outside the _Austonian_ ’s office. “Okay, so maybe I do. But Danneel’s better liked around school, so we put her name on it.”

Jared hums then fully leans into Jensen so they’re touching from shins on up. “Well, so long as it stopped featuring me, I guess I don’t mind it that much.”

In lieu of answering, Jensen pushes forward to take Jared’s lips then rolls onto him. Their books and notes slide off the bed as they shuffle around with Jensen kissing his way along Jared’s jaw, his neck, and down to the opening in his polo shirt where his smooth chest is bared. Jensen drags his hand over Jared’s chest and down to his stomach, fingers clenching into fabric and lightly scratching at Jared’s hips. When Jared hitches his legs and hips up, Jensen takes the sign to go lower, reaching down to cover Jared’s dick, which is growing hard in his jeans. 

Jared huffs loudly then grabs Jensen’s face to keep them kissing messily as he ruts up into Jensen’s hand. “Can you?” he whispers, tiny and quiet.

Jensen stares down at Jared and is blown away by the depth of Jared’s dark pupils and the high blush on his cheeks. They’ve done a whole lot of kissing and plenty of grinding over clothes, but barely any real contact. Jensen can’t contain his excitement. “Yeah, of course, I’ve been wanting to.” 

Jared’s tiny smirk eggs Jensen on even more, and he swiftly tugs at Jared’s belt, button, and zipper to get his hand inside. He fists Jared and tugs a few times, then smiles when Jared arches his back and whines. So Jensen does it again and tightens his grip, quickens his fist, alternates between kissing the hell out of Jared’s mouth and watching Jared’s face turn redder and redder the faster Jensen jacks him off.

“Oh god,” Jared groans then quickly mumbles, “Oh god, oh god, oh god.” 

When Jared comes, his face is completely flushed and his lips look like they’ve been bitten raw. Jensen kisses along Jared’s jaw and cheekbones, smiling against the heated skin, before meeting Jared’s lips in a slow, thoughtful kiss. 

Jensen is shocked by Jared’s recovery time because seconds later, their positions are flipped and Jared is returning the favor. He then goes a step further and folds himself down to kiss and lick at Jensen’s cock. The soft, careful touches of Jared’s mouth are more surprising, both that they’re coming from Jared and how they make Jensen feel all jittery inside. His stomach keeps spinning over and it seems like he can’t catch his breath. Especially when Jared opens his mouth around Jensen and drops lower, bit by bit while still fisting Jensen down to the base. 

It feels like an eternity, a space that Jensen wants to burrow into where his skin burns up while he floats with his blood pumping fast and his muscles tingling. He dares to glance down at Jared and finds Jared looking right back at him with half of Jensen’s cock in his mouth. Jared’s lips are dark red and stretched wide around Jensen while he keeps staring up the bed at him. And that’s it, lights out, curtains, game over. Jensen shoots inside Jared’s mouth with come dribbling down the corners of Jared’s lips. 

He continues to fly, lightheaded and boneless, as they both get their pants back in order. Jared stays stretched out towards the headboard while Jensen remains right where he is at the foot of the bed. He blinks at the blank white ceiling as he thinks about what this could really mean. He’s never had a boyfriend, never done more than kiss a few random people at weekend parties when Seven Minutes in Heaven is the main attraction. But this is the first time he’s really touched someone that he _wanted_ , and had the same in return. He thinks it really means something, yet is terrified to say so.

Jared seems guarded, too, as he hesitantly touches Jensen’s foot. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Jensen whispers.

“Did I do it okay?”

Jensen thinks on it and it’s more than okay, it’s excellent and mind blowing. So he breaks into laughter because his body is still light as a feather and he’s suddenly giddy with excitement over what they’ve done. He drops his arm over Jared’s legs with his palm resting high on Jared’s thigh. “You definitely did okay.”

“Okay, good,” he replies with a tiny smile. “I just … that’s the first time … to do that.”

Biting his lip, Jensen keeps staring at the ceiling. He squeezes Jared’s thigh in comfort before gently rubbing it. “Me, too.”

“I really liked it.”

“Me, too.”

“I’m glad you did,” Jared says quickly before a long pause. “Jensen. I think … I really like you.”

Jensen closes his eyes as his lips curl up high and his cheeks grow hot. “Me, too.”

 

+

 

The newest _Austonian_ is passed around during homeroom, which is also Mrs. Rhodes’ Junior Lit class. Jared takes one when the stack makes it around, then flips to the sports section to catch Jensen’s latest story. He’s smiling as he takes in the words that give the whole team high praise going into Regionals this weekend. The writing insists that the relay team is getting even faster off the blocks and that Dameron will be in trouble when Jared’s hard work pays off.

By the end of the story, he’s grinning, though it doesn’t last long. Confusion takes over as the class is growing loud with hushed conversations—everyone but him. 

Jared glances around and realizes most are staring at him, at least until he looks back and they hide behind hands and books to keep talking.

“What the hell?” he mumbles. 

Sadly, it’s Chad to put him out of his misery by dropping his own copy of the paper on Jared’s desk, open right to The Gossip Tab.

_Star Swimmer in Love Affair with Jaded Newspaper Editor_

Jared snatches the paper up to read every word below the corny headline. There’s little more than a few lines, but it insists that a certain athlete has been sneaking around school with the paper’s snarkiest writer, even making out in the janitor’s closet.

Thankfully, the bell rings just a minute later and Jared grabs all his things—including the paper—and hustles down the hall to Jensen’s locker. Jensen is already there pulling books down from the top shelf and Jared immediately knocks them out of his hands. The items smack on the tile floor and grab the attention of most in the area. 

“What the hell?” Jensen asks with wide eyes.

“I’d ask you the same!” Jared yells. He holds the paper up to Jensen’s face while pointing at the incriminating column. “What’s up with this, huh? Just another story for you or something?”

And that’s what it all comes down to for Jared. The solid rock in his stomach is thanks to deception from someone he was really beginning to care for and Jensen’s ability to lie through it all just for a bit of gossip. 

“I didn’t write this!” Jensen insists, but Jared snorts at him.

“Really? Kinda like you didn’t write all the other bullshit gossip you put in about me?”

“I swear I didn’t.” Jensen grabs the paper to look Jared in the eyes. “Why would I write about the both of us?”

Jared shakes his head and spits out, “Because you’ll get more attention, Jensen. And I know that’s what you’re all about.”

Jensen flinches back. “That’s not true.”

“Of course it is. You didn’t give a shit about covering the swim team until you could find yourself a story, and you sure did, huh?” Jared moves in close as a fire grows inside of him, waiting to burst out of his skin. “Gonna tell all the juicy details about us? Talk about all what all we did in your bedroom? Better make room for a whole page, right?”

“I would never.” Jensen stands firms and clenches his jaw. “Because I didn’t write this.”

“Right,” Jared scoffs. “Because it’s Danneel’s name on the column. That’s what you said last time, just before admitting that you’ve been making shit up about me for months.”

“I didn’t write it, Jared! I couldn’t have. You were over too late for me run the final copy.”

Now nodding, Jared purses his lips and vibrates with a bright spark of pain rumbling beneath his skin, turning it into anger rather than what feels a lot like heartbreak. “What a perfect cover. Have your friends run the story for you.”

Jensen closes his mouth as his nostrils flare in desperation. He bends over to pick up his books and has little to excuse his behavior, which makes Jared even madder. To learn far too late that Jensen really was out to get him this whole time. That he never meant any of the quiet moments they’ve shared, or even his words last night about really liking him. Jared thought he was falling in love and learning a whole new side to Jensen. But it was all just an act. 

“You’re gonna believe what you want,” Jensen says quietly. Then he glances around to the big audience that has grown around their fight. “You’ll all believe anything in print, huh?”

He leaves Jared standing alone in the small circle within the crowd. And no matter how Jared tries to spin this, and no matter where he goes through the day, that loneliness follows him everywhere.

 

+

 

Jensen skips gym and hides out in the _Austonian_ ’s office, even when it gives him the creeps. On one hand, it’s the easiest place for him to stay away from students whispering behind his back, and on the other, it’s the first place he thinks to look for Danneel. Still, he hates having to use this place as refuge when it’s the very place to bring him this heartache. 

She shows up at the next bell for lunch, stopping in the doorway when Jensen picks his head up from the desk to glare at her. “Hey, peaches. How’s your day going?”

He narrows his eyes at her. “Like you don’t know.”

“I don’t. What’s the big dea—ohhh, no,” she drifts off when she sees the page Jensen has his paper opened to. 

“Why would you do that to me?”

“I didn’t,” she quickly insists. 

“You said you had a rumor about the janitor’s closet.”

“Yeah, but it was Gen and Felicia. I couldn’t write about someone on the paper.”

“Well you did now!” Jensen yells as he throws the paper at her. 

“No, it wasn’t …” Then Danneel’s eyes widen and her mouth falls open. “Wait, is this real? You and Jared, for real? Oh my God, no wonder you’ve been so nice about him lately.” 

“You’re not helping! He’s totally pissed at me. Made a scene in the hall and everything. He thinks I did it.”

After a few quiet seconds, Danneel sighs. “Shit.”

Jensen sighs as well, dropping back to sit and burying his face in his arms. “Yeah, so thanks for that.”

“No, not that … I had to pick up my brother from baseball practice, so I asked Adam to file the final draft to the printer.”

Slowly, he picks his head up and blinks. “Wait, what?”

“It was taking longer than I thought then I had to get Gino. You know how annoying he is when I’m late.”

Jensen blinks at her some more, unable to understand the situation. Especially Danneel trusting the dumb freshman. “You asked Adam?”

Danneel shrugs nervously. “He was the only one left, and it was just to package the files then email them.”

“Well, he did more than that, obviously!” Moments later, Adam appears at the doorway and Jensen shouts, “You’re fired! Don’t you dare come in here.”

“What?” the dumbass asks without moving another inch.

“You’re fired,” he repeats slowly. “You no longer work here.”

“I thought we couldn’t get fired if we don’t get paid.”

Jensen huffs while he considers that thought. “Then you quit!”

“I do?”

Jensen writes a quick letter of resignation, ironically right on the page with The Gossip Tab. He brings it to Adam with a pen. “Sign it.”

Adam shirks against the doorway, looking between Jensen and Danneel, who now stands next to Jensen in solidarity. “What if I don’t?”

Danneel snorts. “Then I’ll run so many Gossip Tabs on you, you won’t know what hit you.”

“You can’t do that.”

“You did today,” Jensen points out, “and we will.” He and Danneel step even closer to Adam and crowd him against the door. “Sign it. Now.”

“I did it for Tom!” Adam shouts.

“What?” Danneel and Jensen shriek together.

Now Adam can’t stop talking, going on and on about how Tom wanted the Editor-in-Chief job and knew they had to find a weak spot in Jensen. When Tom read back issues and noticed Jensen was nicer about the swim stories, he thought a rumor about Jared and Jensen would make a decent story, especially to get Jensen pulled from the running for Editor-in-Chief if he was messing around with his subject. As little as Omundson hung around their offices, he always insisted on journalistic integrity above all, and Jensen would likely be demoted to covering the lunch ladies or something.

“What up, asshats?” Tom says upon entering with a Cheshire grin in place. He doesn’t get far into the office, though, because Jensen marches up to him and lands a hard right hook at Tom’s nose. 

Jensen groans at the pain running through his hand and up his wrist, but holds it together long enough to glare at Tom laid out on the floor. “You’re an asshat. Asshat.”

 

+

 

For Jared, the rest of the day is no easier. People in every class watch him and whisper, friends make jokes about him hooking up with a newspaper nerd like Jensen Ackles, and his teammates essentially ignore him throughout practice. Even Chad, who calls Jared a pussy.

“You’re a pussy,” Chad taunts once everyone’s back in the locker room after practice. “Should’ve just knocked him out for writing those kinds of lies. Am I right, or am I right?”

No one responds until Chad annoys the others long enough that Matt rolls his eyes then points at Jared. “It wasn’t lies. Look at him. He’s guilty as fuck.”

The room falls quiet aside from the sounds of banging locker doors when the rest of the team leaves. Jared finally gets his stuff together with a long sigh, tired of dealing with this whole mess. 

“Really? You and Ass-les?” Chad asks from behind. 

Jared figures the cat’s already out of the bag, plus Chad has been his friend since kindergarten when the dumbass tried to cheat off of Jared’s alphabet chart. Instead of turning Chad in, Jared had decided to help him out and he hasn’t been able to lose Chad since. “For a while. Couple months.”

“ _Months_ , wow.” Chad sits beside Jared on the bench and stays surprisingly quiet. 

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.”

Jared turns to Chad, expecting more jokes and harassment, but there are none. Chad just looks at him thoughtfully. “What?”

“So that’s really why you’re mad? Because you dig him?”

With a sigh, Jared drops his swimsuit and towel in his duffel bag. “Yeah. Or I did, I guess.”

“What do you mean you guess?”

“Well, not anymore,” Jared laughs harshly. “Look at what he did.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Chad parrots in much the same sad, defeated tone as Jared. 

“Why are _you_ bummed?”

Chad shrugs. “Because you are.”

Jared makes a face and shakes his head. He’s not in the mood for Chad’s odd ramblings. He’s not in the mood for much of anything right now. “So?”

“And you’re my friend. I’m bummed that you’re bummed.” Jared huffs angrily before Chad shifts around to look him right in the eyes. “I’m not totally heartless. You make fun of me about Sophia, but I love that girl. She was my first and all that.”

Suddenly Jared can’t breath and his head swims. On top of Chad sounding like a human being, Jared now has to face the thoughts of whatever Jensen really was to him … or is. His first … whatever. The first guy Jared kissed with any real meaning, the first he ever touched, the first he admitted to really liking. And all of that just makes his heart sink further in his chest because it’s all been ruined by Jensen’s dumb newspaper and his dumb need to make it edgy.

Jared drops his head, letting his hair fall over his face and shield him from Chad’s view. Even if his friend is now thoughtful and supportive, Jared wants to block out the world as his mind reels over just how badly he feels having been betrayed by Jensen.

It’s made worse when he leaves the locker room to find Jensen standing in the hallway, like he has for every day for the last month or so. Jared spins around to go the other way, ignoring Jensen as he chatters on and on in apology.

“I swear to you, I didn’t do this,” Jensen argues. “I fired Adam and told Mr. Omundson about Tom and they’re going to print a retraction in next week’s edition.”

Jared does his best to ignore all that Jensen says, shaking his head and walking as quickly as possible. But Jensen stays right with him, even tugging on Jared’s arm for attention.

“Are you listening to me? It wasn’t me. Tom did it. He had Adam do it just after Danneel left for the night. She told Adam to submit the final copy, but then Adam changed it”

In an instant, Jared stops and turns on Jensen. Heat fumes in his belly as he thinks he’s going cross-eyed because he’s so angry and feeling wild with Jensen’s claims. “So Tom did it and Adam did it and Danneel let it happen and none of it is your fault?”

Jensen stutters and steps back while trying to formulate his answer. “Well … yeah, yeah, exactly. That’s pretty much it. It sounds crazy, I know—”

“It _is_ crazy!” Jared yells. “And it’s crazy that I even care anymore. It’s crazy that you’re blaming everyone else but yourself for that stupid gossip column that’s obviously nothing but trouble.”

“No, Jared,” Jensen complains while grabbing Jared’s arm, only Jared moves out of reach with a deadly glare. “I’m sorry,” he insists. “But it wasn’t me this time.”

Jared snorts and looks away. “This time. Right.”

“How many times do I have to tell you I didn’t do it?”

He darkly chuckles. “About forty?” 

“Jared, seriously, I—”

Jared finally stops and glares at him. “Bye, Jensen,” he says in a quiet, low tone, then heads home to sulk for the rest of the night.

 

+

 

For a week, Jensen mopes through school. He stays quiet in all his classes—raising quite a number of his teacher’s eyebrows—and keeps his head down at the _Austonian_. Mr. Omundson barely bats an eyelash at the situation, rubbing his beard as he stares at Jensen after he’s ‘had time to ponder.’

“You don’t think it’s wrong,” Jensen says more than asks. 

“It’s not about right or wrong,” Mr. Omundson replies. “This is all a very grey area, you know.”

“You think it’s fine that Tom went behind our backs and used the paper to embarrass me and Jared.”

“Was it a lie?”

Jensen doesn’t answer. He looks away when Mr. Omundson continues to wait for an explanation that never comes

“Then Tom did his job and reported the facts.”

“But he trashed us in The Gossip Tab.”

Mr. Omundson smirks. “The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.” 

Jensen now avoids talking by digging his fingernail into thin lines littering the top of his desk. 

“Will Rogers.”

It’s hard to not roll his eyes at his advisor. Mostly because he’s right. Jensen had always enjoyed hearing wild stories behind people’s backs and then writing thinly-veiled stories about them. Now that it’s tarnished Jensen’s own life, he’d rather rip up the paper and burn it.

Mr. Omundson leans forward as if imparting great secrets. “The old cowboy also said ‘Never let yesterday use up too much of today.’ Which means, you have to look forward to tomorrow and move on.”

“I just really like him,” Jensen admits quietly, feeling his heart rip just a tiny bit more. And it’s true, because having gone just a few days without seeing Jared or hearing his voice, even when arguing, is tearing him apart. He doesn’t want to eat or talk to anyone or go to class. He doesn’t even want to do his job, which had always been his number one priority. “Like … really, really.”

“Young love,” Mr. Omundson says dreamily. Then he stands, pats Jensen on the shoulder, and leaves Jensen to his own sorrows.

Though not for long, because someone makes themselves known in the doorway by clearing their throat. Jensen barely glances up, trying to hide the tears blurring his vision. “We’re closed right now.” 

“I … uh … I’m sorry.”

Jensen looks to the doorway and his eyes widen while his mouth drops open. “Jared.”

Jared clears his throat again and takes just one step inside the office. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to eavesdrop in here, but … I heard. I heard what you said. And what Mr. Omundson said. And I’m sorry.”

It’s hard to smile as shock still holds Jensen still. Jared’s eyes are wet and his cheeks flushed with angst. He’s in his after-practice sweat suit with wet hair plastered at his temples and around his ears.

Jensen thinks he couldn’t look more perfect. And the words he’s said hit Jensen deep in that empty pit in his chest. “I didn’t do it.”

“You’ve said that a few times.”

“Do I have really have to say it forty times?”

Jared chuckles and brokenly smiles as he takes a few more steps inside. “No, but I should probably say sorry about a hundred for not listening to you.”

Jensen sucks in a long breath and thinks about all that’s run through his brain this last week. It’s been a rush of anger and guilt, sadness and loss. But Jared is here and talking to him again, so Jensen can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He has to be open about Jared’s apology. “I can’t really blame you.”

“Oh?”

“Danneel said so.” He shrugs and sadly smiles. “I have a track record after all.”

“Yeah, you do,” Jared concedes when he reaches Jensen’s desk. He nervously taps his fingers at the surface. “But, maybe you can have a clean slate instead.”

Jensen pushes up from his chair with his heart ready to leap out of its cage. “Really?”

“Really, really.”

“Really,” he repeats softly.

Jared glances away before sneaking a look, like he can’t bear to see Jensen when saying, “Kind like how you said you really, really like me? If that was true after all.”

“It’s really, really true,” Jensen insists as he leans against the desk to be nearer to Jared. When Jared nods, Jensen reaches across the way to grab Jared by the lapels of his zip-up sweatshirt and bring him in for a kiss. He considers climbing up onto the desk, but then laughs at the absurdity of it. And also with the joy bubbling up from his toes that Jared is back. 

Jared presses his forehead to Jensen’s and they share a breath while Jensen does his best to not faint right now. It’s all too real and tangible, like he could fall over if Jared weren’t here to bring them back together. 

“I’m sorry,” Jared whispers. “That’s four times.”

Jensen laughs and kisses Jared again.

 

+

 

Jared makes sure that he meets his quota. In the morning, and for dozens and dozens that follow, Jared meets Jensen at his locker before the first bell. He always smiles, kisses Jensen, then offers “I’m sorry,” and states the new number he’s reached in lieu of a real greeting. 

After a while, Jensen rolls his eyes, but still grins in return and grabs Jared’s hand as they walk each other to class. Their fingers thread together and palms match up with a comfortable warmth, all while they ignore any looks their classmates give them for being so cheesy. 

By the time Jared reaches one hundred, Jensen frowns that the tradition is over. Yet, Jared surprises him with a whole new one. 

On the ninety-seventh day from their reconciliation, when Jared has cleared a hundred sorries, Jared kisses Jensen and slowly breaks away. Then he softly smiles and whispers, “I love you.”

Jensen’s eyes go comically wide before he jumps at Jared to kiss again. “Me, too.”


End file.
